page_title: Palacete of the Visconts of Balsemão
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Palacete of the Visconts of Balsemão / History
caption_attribution_description: 1959-Escudo en Oporto. Brasão de Sousa, Conde da Trindade
context_page_description: The Palacette of Viscounts of Balsemão is a former-residence in the civil parish of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau e Vitória, in the northern Portuguese city of Porto.
context_section_description: In the second-half of the 18th century, the residence was constructed by nobleman José Alvo Brandão, along the then-designated Largo dos Ferradores.
  Following the 1800 wedding of D. Maria Rosa Alvo and her cousin/step-brother, Luís Máximo Alfredo Pinto de Sousa Coutinho (later the second Viscount of Balsemão) the house passed into the hands of the Balsemão family.
  Between 1834 and 1837, following the death of the second Viscount, the spaces were used provisionally to house the Academia Politécnica do Porto (Poly-technic Academy of Porto), while the old Academy was occupied by the military hospital, during the Liberal Wars.
  In 1840, António Bernardino Pexe (or Peixe) rented the building, and transferred to the site, his lodging from Rua do Bonjardim. In April 1849, Charles Albert of Sardinia, King of Sardinia, took refuge in Portugal during this time, following his defeat at the Battle of Novara. While his home was being prepared, the former-king installed his residence at the Palacette. In 1852, the square began to be re-designated Praça Carlos Alberto for the former monarch.
  Two years later it was acquired by the 1st Viscount of Trindade, José António de Sousa Basto, a great property-owner and capitalist, he complete a complete renovation of the building.  Between 1885 and 1886, painter Francisco José Resende executed four paintings for the Viscount (portraits of D. Luís I, Queen D. Maria Pia, Prince D. Carlos and the Infante D. Afonso) ordered by counsel José Guilherme Pacheco, that later found their way to various municipal buildings. In 1862, the King D. Luís I and Queen D. Maria Pia, went to the palacette to visit King Carlos Alberto, grandfather of D. Maria Pia.
  Throughout the 20th century, the building was expanded, renovated and modernized to support the activities on the site. Following the Republican revolution, in 1907 the Gas Company of Lisbon began operating from the site, eventually assuming the role of the municipal services of Porto by 1920, responsible for gas and electricity. It was only in 1959 that the municipal council of Porto bought the building from the descendants of the Viscount of Trindade. In 1989, its descendant, EDP (the national energy/electricity producer), moved out of the building.
  The municipal council installed the Culture Directorate (Direção de Cultura) in the building in 1996.
  In 2004, the Resende portraits were re-united, restored and placed on exhibition in the palacette once more.
caption: The coat-of-arms of the Viscount of Trindade
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